NASCAR outlaws key driver-adjustable track bar for 2019 Cup season

NASCAR will ban a key driver aid for the 2019 Cup series season by removing the driver-adjustable track bar that allows competitors to alter chassis set-up on track.

The device was introduced for the 2015 Cup season so drivers could influence handling during the changing conditions of a race.

NASCAR claims drivers had approached the series over a desire to drop the driver-adjustable track bar.

“We’ve had the driver-adjustable trackbar for quite a while now and many of them [the drivers] came to us and said, ‘Hey, look. This really didn’t do what we’d hoped for and we’d rather not have it,'” Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, told SiriusXM Radio.

“So part of the 2019 rules is that the driver-adjustable, cockpit-adjustable trackbar is no longer in play.”

The implication of the change means that pitstop set-up changes will become more crucial.

A NASCAR team could previously make a wedge adjustment, which relates to suspension set-up, and any mistakes could be countered by driver adjustments on track.

Now that safety net has been removed, a year after NASCAR reduced the number of over-the-wall pit crew members, it means any set-up mistakes would have to be fixed at the next pitstop.

The previous rules changes in 2018 led to several issues early in the season as teams experienced issues with wheelguns.

The 2019 rule change follows on the heels of NASCAR’s decision to implement radically different car packages after the success of Charlotte’s All-Star race earlier this year.